Thu | Jun 1, 2023

London police investigating Downing Street lockdown parties

Published:Tuesday | January 25, 2022 | 10:15 AM
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the media regarding Britain's COVID-19 infection rate and vaccination campaign, in Downing Street, London, Monday, November 15, 2021. London police say they are now investigating Downing Street parties during lockdown. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick revealed an investigation was underway in a statement before the London Assembly on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. Dick said Scotland Yard is now investigating “a number of events” at Downing Street. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP, File)

LONDON (AP) — London police said Tuesday they were investigating Downing Street lockdown parties in 2020 to determine if United Kingdom government officials violated coronavirus restrictions, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Metropolitan Police Service has launched an inquiry into “a number of events” at Downing Street because they met the force's criteria for investigating the “most serious and flagrant” breaches of COVID-19 rules, Commissioner Cressida Dick told the London Assembly, the capital's local government council.

Johnson is facing calls to resign amid revelations that he and his staff attended a series of parties during the spring and winter of 2020 when most social gatherings were banned throughout England, forcing average citizens to miss weddings, funerals and birthdays as friends and relatives died alone in hospitals.

The gatherings are already being investigated by a senior civil servant Sue Gray whose report, expected this week, will be crucial in determining whether Johnson can remain in power.

The Cabinet Office said Gray's investigation would continue.

But it wasn't immediately clear whether Gray would have to delay the announcement of her findings because of the police investigation.

Johnson has apologised for attending a party in the garden of his Downing Street offices in May 2020, but said he had considered it a work gathering that fell within the social distancing rules in place at the time.

In the latest revelation, ITV News reported late Monday that Johnson attended a birthday party in his Downing Street office and later hosted friends at his official residence upstairs in June 2020.

His office denied that the gathering violated lockdown regulations, saying that the prime minister hosted a small number of family members outdoors, which was in line with rules at the time.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the police investigation.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.